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Profs and Pints presents: “The Life of a DC Beer King,” a biographical portrait of DC brewing magnate Christian Heurich, with Mark Benbow, associate professor of American History at Marymount University.
Christian Heurich was a pivotal figure in Washington DC history who also brewed damned good beer. For decades, Washingtonians drank more of his beer than any other brand. His Senate, Maerzen, and Heurich Lager were served in the White House, in the homes of Congressmen, and along Embassy Row. He won medals in tasting competitions at three World’s Fairs.
But Heurich’s life was richer than any thick stout. As a young man, he walked all over central Europe, learning how to brew and withstanding the trials of apprenticeship. He went on to survive a ship-wide cholera outbreak, malaria, Prohibition, a carriage accident, three major Depressions, a gangland robbery, and accusations of being a spy and would-be assassin. He found himself trapped in Europe at the start of both world wars, and in 1939, well into his nineties, managed to sleep through a British air raid. Just before the United States entered the Second World War his newspaper ads declared, “I’m a real Washingtonian now. I drink Senate Beer.”
He lived to the ripe age of 102, working up until a week before his death in 1945. His brewery struggled after his death, closing in 1956 and eventually getting torn down to make room for the Roosevelt Bridge and the Kennedy Center. A grandson revived the family’s recipes through the Olde Heurich Brewing Company, which lasted until 2006, and the Dupont Circle mansion that is now the Heurich House Museum still stands as a monument to the family’s wealth and influence.
Come hear tales of old Washington and one of its legendary figures. We’ll have beer on tap for you. (Tickets $10 in advance and $12 at the door.)
